1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique for authenticating a user who uses an apparatus such as an image processing apparatus or the like, and more particularly to a technique for performing user authentication using an IC card.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a case where an image forming apparatus such as a multifunction machine or the like is used, a technique for specifying a user who intends to use the apparatus by performing user authentication, and thus causing the specified user to actually use the apparatus is widely performed.
For example, there is a printing method by which, to ensure security of print data, the print data generated by a printer driver as a result of a print instruction issued on a computer is once stored in a memory of a server apparatus or an image forming apparatus, and then a printing process is started when it is instructed to print the stored print data. Here, in the case where the print data is stored in the memory of the server apparatus or the image forming apparatus, user information is stored together with the print data, and then the printing process of the print data which has been made correspondent to the user specified as the result of the user authentication performed in the image forming apparatus is started. By doing so, it is possible to decrease the risk that the printing process is performed by the image forming apparatus immediately after the print instruction was issued and thus the printed result is unwillingly seen by anyone else (that is, the person who is different from the person who instructed the printing process).
Further, when the image forming apparatus is used, the user who uses the apparatus is specified by the user authentication. Thus, it is possible to have history information indicating what kind of setting has been performed to each user, and it is also possible to charge each section for use of the image forming apparatus in accordance with the history information.
In any case, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-134857 discloses a technique for specifying a user who intends to use an image forming apparatus by user authentication, and then permitting the specified user to actually use the image forming apparatus. More specifically, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-134857, when the user authentication is performed using an IC card, in a case where an IC card of another user (second user) is passed over a card reader while a certain user (first user) is logging in to the image forming apparatus, a logout process is performed to the user who is logging in, and the authentication process using the newly passed IC card is performed. By doing so, for example, even when the certain user (first user) does not perform a logout process after he/she used the image forming apparatus, it is unnecessary for another user (second user) to perform the logout process for the certain user (first user), thereby improving operability.
However, recently, a plurality of IDs (user information) are made correspondent to one IC card, for the reason that, for example, the charge of a fee necessary to user the image forming apparatus is calculated not for the section to which users belong but for a business such as a certain project or the like to which users relate.
Consequently, the IDs corresponding to the businesses to which the users respectively relate have been registered in the one IC card that these users commonly own. Then, in case of using the image forming apparatus, the authentication using the IC card is performed, the user information corresponding to the business is selected from the plurality of IDs made correspondent to the IC card, and the user corresponding to the selected user information actually uses the image forming apparatus. By doing so, it is possible to calculate the charge of the fee necessary to use the image forming apparatus for each project.
At this time, to change over the users registered in the same IC card, it is necessary to once perform the logout process for the user who is logging in to the image forming apparatus and then perform again the user authentication process. Such a process can be avoided by changing over the users registered on the same IC card. However, in this case, somebody else can instruct and perform the printing of the print data made correspondent not only to the user who has logged in but also to the plurality of users who share the IC card used at the time of the login (at the time of the user authentication). Such a situation is undesired from the viewpoint of security.
Further, even in the case where the invention disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-134857 is applied, the logout process is unnecessary when a different IC card is used, but the user changeover process is not started when the same IC card is passed over the card reader. As a result, it is necessary to perform again the login process after the logout process was performed.